


Darkest Before the Dawn

by quiet__tiger



Category: Batman (Movies - Nolan)
Genre: Contemplative, Drama, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-05-08
Packaged: 2018-10-29 08:31:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10850271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quiet__tiger/pseuds/quiet__tiger
Summary: Brief coda to The Dark Knight.





	Darkest Before the Dawn

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.
> 
> Prompt: "Why Do We Fall."
> 
> Originally posted to Livejournal 7th-Jun-2012.

_“Why do we fall?_

_So we can pick ourselves back up.”_

The words echoed in Batman’s mind as he fled Gotham proper, motorcycle cutting through the darkness like a bat’s wing. Expensive armor, fancy equipment, years of training, his home burning to the ground, the nightmares visited upon him by Scarecrow, the Joker, Harvey’s death…

Everything came back to the words his father shared with him so long ago.

 _Why do we fall? So we can pick ourselves back up._ Meant to inspire, to comfort. Meant to imply purpose rather than harsh entropy.

The words got him through childhood, through adolescence, through training with the League of Shadows, through their torching of his life...

And they’d get him through this. Just how big “this” was he wasn’t sure, but he’d have to get through it.

Through a Gotham without Dent’s leadership.

Through a world where people like the Joker could take over a city with veritable ease.

Through a period of being hunted by the police, despised by the citizens he was trying to protect, cut off from the people he needed.

There was no option to stay down, let the fall kill him, let the crazies—for surely there would be more—take over _his_ city. He would not let that happen. Batman _or_ Bruce.

He’d been down before.

He’d pick himself back up.

And he dared anyone to challenge him.

Motorcycle speeding around turns, one eye on the road as the other searched for any sign of attack, Batman drove away from Gotham but not mindlessly. He planned, and calculated, and aligned what he needed with what he had.

Batman would return to Gotham.

Its citizens—Gordon especially—could count on it.

Whether they wanted him or not.

Because they needed him.

**Author's Note:**

> Clearly written *before* we learn Bruce doesn't start Batmanning again for eight freaking *years*...


End file.
